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Weather. Part 2 The Air We Breath. What three things must all living things have to live?. Food to eat, Water to drink, and Air to breath. With out food we would die in a few weeks. but without air we would all die in just a few minutes. without water a few days.
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Weather Part 2 The Air We Breath
With out food we would die in a few weeks... but without air we would all die in just a few minutes. without water a few days...
Our ATMOSPHERE is the layer of air that surrounds our planet.
The atmosphere surrounds the Earth and protects us by blocking out dangerous rays from the sun.
The atmosphere is made entirely of gas. It is composed mostly of Nitrogen (78%), and Oxygen (21%).
The last 1% is made of other gases like helium, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and many more.
Even though we can’t see air it is there. It even has weight. As we sit in the room air is pushing down on us at a rate of 15 pounds per square inch.
In other words it is like having a 15 pound brick sitting on our heads. How is this possible?
Less Dense More Dense Our atmosphere extends up for many miles. If we were to look at a column of air, the particles on top would be few and far between.
Less Dense More Dense The particles on the bottom would be very close together or dense.
Excuse me Human Teacher... As usual I don’t think they understand what you are talking about.
Micro humans, please listen closely and follow my directions...
Humans with their hand on the bottom... Compare your right hand to your left. What do you observe?
Human who has their hand on the top... Compare your right hand to your left. What do you observe?
Now one person at a time, move the hand on the bottom to the top of the stack.
Repeat until the bottom hand has returned to the bottom of the stack.
Notice how the pressure increases as your hand moves down the stack.
Imagine what your hands would feel like if you had a 320 mile stack of hands on top of you.
From the ground to the top most extreme of our atmosphere is about 320 miles.
Alright human teacher, I believe your students have assimilated the required knowledge. You may teach again...
Less Dense More Dense Things push down from the top. So the air molecules closest to the ground are very dense and close together.
Less Dense More Dense The amount of air pressing down on the surface is called AIR PRESSURE.
Less Dense More Dense The lower you are to the ground the higher the air pressure. The higher in the sky you go the lower the air pressure.
The Earth’s atmosphere is divided into Five layers:. Exosphere Thermosphere Mesosphere Stratosphere Troposphere
In the Exosphere the Earth's atmosphere becomes very thin. At the top of the earths atmosphere atoms and molecules escape into space.
The Thermosphere is the fourth layer of the Earth's atmosphere.
It is found above the Mesosphere. The air is really thin that high up.
The thermosphere is almost 400 KM thick. Thermosphere
During the day temperatures in the thermosphere can get up to 1,500°C or higher!
The Mesosphere is the third layer in the atmosphere. Mesosphere
If you look at the edge of the planet you can see the mesosphere.
The STRATOSPHERE is the second layer of the atmosphere. Stratosphere
Ozone causes the temperature to go up as you climb higher. It absorbs dangerous light from the Sun and converts it to heat.
The TROPOSPHERE is the lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere.. Troposphere
The TROPOSPHERE extends from the ground to about 10 KM in the sky. Troposphere
The surface of the Earth absorbs energy and heats up faster than the air does.
Thus the air in the troposphere is heated from the groundup.
The heat is spread throughout the troposphere because the air is slightly unstable.
In other words... The wind blows and spreads the heatedair around the troposphere.